Hosted by E.K.Bensah Jr, a Research & Communications Specialist, the show seeks to disrupt the African Rising narrative by demystifying;unpacking; and explaining ECOWAS;African Union; South-South Cooperation policies around Africa's integration.

Monday, March 30, 2015

As part of
our “East Africa rising” programme, we are reprising the focus of East Africa on
the Show, with a view to reminding listeners about the urgency of catalyzing and
capitalizing on synergy with East Africa.

The Southern
African country of Namibia recently opened a High Commission in Ghana, but, really,
how many East African countries have diplomatic representations here? If not,
why not? (Kenya has none in Ghana; Rwanda has a diplomatic representation; Uganda
has none at all – never mind, Burundi or Tanzania) .

In February, Ethiopia tested light rail. Rwanda has bought
new planes to fly to Europe. Can it give is lessons on sanitizing our
sanitation day? In November 2013, Kenya unveiled a US$13.8bn high-speed train.
Is this something we can learn from them? What about Ghanaian businessmen and their
ability to take advantage of doing business in Ghana at a time Ghana Tourism
Authority are talking about learning from Kenya?

While these are important questions to be asked, one would
have hoped we would not be asking them in 2015, when ECOWAS turns 40 and
President Mahama is E COWAS Chair.

AIF started in 2014 with a recognition that East Africa is
rising. Is Ghana listening?

Join us if
you can at 1pm on 31 March, 2015.

Guiding questions

What is especially vibrant about the ICT sector in Rwanda
Ghanaians can learn from?

Kenya has had its fair shares of challenges, but is considered one
of the strongest economies in the region. Apart from its strong and
reputable journalism, and its world-class tourism, what can Ghana learn
from it?

Ethiopia now has light-rail; Kenya has high-speed rail. Even Abuja
has considered light-rail. What is East Africa doing more seriously than Ghana
on infrastructure?

Saturday, March 28, 2015

On Day Two of the High-Level Conference on Data Revolution, I met a number of very interesting people. Some are experts in data; some are journalists. Many others are on a learning curve to understand, and assess how data can be capitalised on for the betterment of Africa's integration. I must say, though, that the two people that most-caught my attention were no other than representatives of the Pan-African-Parliament (PAP)--and they have very interesting stories to tell. It was quite clear from my interview with both of them that all is not well at the Midrand-based Pan-African Parliament. They spoke to me on the sidelines of the High-Level Conference.by E.K.Bensah Jr, Addis, AbabaBeing a Pan-african Parliamentarian is not quite well cut out as it appears. I had the priviledge of interviewing Hon Dr.Bernadette Lahai (also MP in Sierra Leone Parliament) who bemoaned the poor visibility of the Pan-African Parliament(PAP)--even in Midrand, South Africa, where it is located. "Not even the South African Broadcasting Corporation(SABC) gives publicity to our work", she said, neither do BBC or Al-Jazeera. In the light of this poor visibility, explained her colleague Jacob Odade, the PAP was focussing on communication as their strategic focus. Hon, Dr.Lahai explained how, despite possessing an African Union diplomatic passport, she was compelled to show her national passport as well when at the airport in South Africa. Additionally, at a time when the PAP has embarked on a Communication strategy that stresses visibility of PAPs, there is no visibility of a new protocol that would seek to make PAP a legislative tool, with binding decisions--as seen at the East African Legislative Assembly(EALA). This new protocol seeks to also make Members of the Pan-African Parliament permanent for 5(five) years so they can dedicate more work to the continental legislature, and needs 28 member states before it comes into effect. To date, no country has yet to ratify it since it was tabled at the PAP in 2014.This new protocol would also allow for the establishment of so-called "PAP desks" at the ministries of Foreign Affairs of Member States. This would not have to be new paid-for positions, avers the PAP, but could be positions added onto other staff of the Ministry. She was worried by the fact that each AU Member State sends five members to the PAP, but most often, many citizens are unable to explain what the PAPs are doing for the benefit of their nation.

Jacob Odade, of Pan-African Parliament

Another challenge for the PAP's work is accommodation. They are currently living in an office space on land that is even not permanent for the work members of the PAP do. Hon. Dr.Lahai proposed that the South African government could build hostels, which could be rented for the Parliamentarians. In addition, much like how the AU has established a Conference Centre Complex for hire, the government of South Africa could do same to ensure some revenue is accrued to the Parliament. Equally challenging for the Pan-African Parliamentarian is the analogue way in which they continue to work. At a time when the South African government has established e-government, Pressed on whether she would prefer the Pan-African Parliament re-locating to the home of the African Union here in Addis, she said that would not be a bad idea, as it would be easier for the legislature to have consultative meetings with the African Union Commission, and its Commissioners -- which it already does. Hon. Dr.Lahai is Chairman of the Committee on Transport, Industry, Communication, Energy, Science & Technology(TICEST), which is aligned to the African Union's own structures

VIDEO CLIP (below): Listen to Hon. Dr.Bernadette Lahai, member of the Pan-African Parliament speak to the issue of WHY Data is important to Africa's integration. As an agriculturalist, she says the book that has just been launched --"The Emerging Data Revolution in Africa"-- will be referred to at the Pan-African Parliament for policy discussions.ENDs

Listen to Hon. Dr.Bernadette Lahai, member of the Pan-African Parliament speak to the issue of WHY Data is important to Africa's integration. As an agriculturalist, she says the book that has just been launched --"The Emerging Data Revolution in Africa"-- will be referred to at the Pan-African Parliament for policy discussions.
Posted by Emmanuel K Bensah Jr on Saturday, March 28, 2015

Sunday, March 22, 2015

EPISODE #36Research & Co-ordination: E.K.Bensah JrExecutive Producer: E.K.Bensah JrTechnical Producer: D.J. Stagger"Dear friends,We used the thirty-sixth edition of the Africa in Focus show to give very important time to two technical experts, and a reformed drug addict, of the newly-established West Africa Drug Policy Network, which is backed by the Senegal-based West Africa Commission on Drugs.The cardinal objective of the Network is to call for greater support of those afflicted by drug abuse, and help them rehabilitate back into society. The old narratives of "war on drugs" is one, the Network believes, is outdated and needs to quickly be replaced by one that supports--not punishes--drug users to have dignity for their lives. Prison only complicates their re-entry back into society, especially when antiquated and repressive narratives are used to punish them like criminals.Of utmost importance for the Network, Marie-Goretti Ane, lawyer and technical expert of the Network explained, was for Ghanaian policymakers to carefully look through the new Bill that is ready to transform the erstwhile Narcotics Board into a Narcotics Commission. Some of the punishments for drug-users are downright punitive and excessive and find no place in an era where even countries like the US are beginning to re-consider old narratives of punishing the small fish.We also spoke to Macmillan Prentice of Ghana Standards Authority who gave us a profound insight into the upcoming "ECOSTAND", which is a new (classification) standard for the sub-region.As per usual, we had Kobby Blay of #EbolaWatch offer us an update of developments around Ebola.Kindly find a link to download the podcast below:https://www.dropbox.com/s/ubdf9fwzuts0j14/AFRICA%20IN%20FOCUS%20%2017-03-15.mp3?dl=0Kind regards,Emmanuel

Friday, March 20, 2015

EPISODE #35Research & Co-ordination: E.K.Bensah JrExecutive Producer: E.K.Bensah Jr"Dear friends,We used the thirty-fifth edition of the Africa in Focus show to discuss some of the challenges associated with West Africa's integration, which seems to oblivious to the plight of consumers in the sub-region. Equally absent is the synergy between West Africa's policymakers and the youth, who remain important stakeholders in ECOWAS' integration project.
Azeez Gomda offered a robust argument on where ECOWAS integration needs to go, with a focus on the revision of the ECOWAS Treaty of 1993 to reflect today's realities in West Africa; greater synergy between East and West Africa; and support for ECOWAS to have Missions in strategic countries to help promulgate the idea of West Africa's integration.

As usual, we had Kobby Blay of #EbolaWatch offer us an update of developments around Ebola.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Welcome to the 8th edition of the Ecowas@40Podcast,
where we give you insights into all that is ECOWAS.

The ECOWAS@40Podcast is divided into four parts.
We start off with an overview of what stories are trending under ECOWAS/West
Africa/the AU. We then move on to what ECOWAS and/or AU accounts are tweeting.
Third, we give listeners an ECOWAS Fact; and, finally, “What’s my ECOWAS Beef?”
where I offer candid views on a trending topic. In today’s edition, we are
looking at events the Show is involved in one may have missed.

The nettlesome issue of South Sudan is reprised
here in this Podcast for obvious reasons: there is lack of clarity around the
report, which now cites US, UK, & Norway as being responsible for the mess
that that country faces.

Let’s take a look at some of the tweets with the
highest RTs:

1.148RTs – @UN: “Sometimes a woman’s greatest support
comes from the men in her life. A man in #SouthSudan talks about his mum
#IWD2015”

5.3RTs
-- @mashanubian: “Mali Counter-terrorism investigators arrived from Paris
overnight to aid hunt for the killers of five people, including a French
national.”

3.WHAT ECOWAS
IS TWEETING:

Ecowas account on twitter now has
2 more followers from last week making it 41; it is STILL not following anyone
yet. It has tweeted 18 times since its first tweet on 10 February. The last
tweet was 3 days ago, when it tweeted “Today is the 58th anniversary
of the Republic of Ghana’s independence. Happy Independence Day!”, with a
pic…the inevitable flag of Ghana!

1.It is the Revised ECOWAS Treaty of 1993
that enjoins supranationality over Member States. This means that ECOWAS has
what is called a legal international legal personality, meaning it has rights
and obligations under international law;

2.The Revised Treaty is 42 pages, and has
93 articles;

3. Article 72:

a.“There is hereby instituted a Community
levy for the purpose of generating resources for financing Community
activities.

b.The CL shall be the percentage of the
total value of import duty derivable from goods imported into the Community
from third countries.

c.The actual level of the CL shall be
determined by the Council

d.The conditions for the application of
the CL, the modalities for the transfer to the Community of the revenue
generated and the utilization of the Community levy shall be defined in the
relevant Protocol.

e.Member States undertake to facilitate
the application of the provisions of this Article.”

4.WHAT’s
MY ECOWAS BEEF?

Given Ghana has a momentous – and
auspicious -- opportunity under the ECOWAS Chairmanship to celebrate one of the
most vibrant regional economic communities on the continent, really, is this
the best it can do as far as celebrations are concerned? A press conference to
launch #ECOWAS@40 celebrations?

What
you missed!

The three-day Eighth Pan-African
Congress ended on 7 March with a call to hold a second phase of it in 2016 h
ere in Ghana, so as to prepare for a delegates Conference in Brazil, which
offered to host the 9th Congress in that country.

Speaking to a plenary on Day 2, avowed
and reputable Pan-Africanist Professor Horace Campbell revealed the imminent
establishment of a North American Reparations Commission. This is in the spirit
of efforts made by CARICOM countries’ call for reparations against the
trans-Atlantic slave trade. CARICOM is a region AU member States can learn a
lot from on advocacy on reparations.

One of the key outcomes of PAC8’s work
is the establishment of the Network of Pan-African Communicators to prosecute
the agenda of Pan-Africanism, and the century-long work of Africans. AIF is one
of the founding members of the Network, which include seasoned journalists like
George Koomson and Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng. We already have established a list-serve and whatsapp group.

It will be recalled that
Ep.31 of the Show looked at the necessity of civil society intervention in
drug policy in West Africa.
Subsequently, the Ghana Chapter of the newly-established Network (WaDruPoNe),
which is backed by the Kofi Annan Foundation’s West Africa Commission on Drugs,
held a meeting 25 February to chart the way forward on the Network’s advocacy.

In this second programme
on civil society advocacy around drug policy in West Africa, we want to use the
36th edition of “Africa in Focus” to begin a very critical and
important conversation on two things.

First: the implications
of a transformation of the erstwhile Narcotics Control Board into a Narcotics
Control Commission, and what that augurs for treatment of those hooked onto
drugs. Advocates from the newly-established WaDruPoNe believe the Bill to
sustain the old and repressive focus of “war on drugs”, which targets the small
fish by imposing long and harsh sentences on them, in lieu of treating them as
addicts in need of assistance by clinicians, psychologists, and public health
professionals.

Second: the Network’s
call on members of the public and CSOs to support the call to SUPPORT NOT
PUNISH drug users, with an equally-urgent call for a holistic review of the Bill
before ratification by Parliament.

To this end, we will be speaking to two technical experts
from the Ghana Chapter of the Network on the show to help speak to these
issues, as well as a reformed drug user who can help speak to the necessity of drug policy reform.

Join us if
you can at 1pm on 17 March, 2015.

Guiding questions

Why is an analysis of the new Narcotics Control Commission Bill
(transform Narcotics Board into a Commission) important?

Does the bill address harm reduction
strategies?

Is
the NCC Bill what one may call a progressive one?

Despite the 2014 “Not Just in Transit” report by the West Africa
Commission on Drugs, why have governments been slow in treating drug use
as a public health issue?

How universal will the current
bill address the needs of every Ghanaian drug user regardless of their
socio-economic status?

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Accept greetings from the members of the Ghana Chapter of the West Africa Drug Policy Network.

We are pleased to share with you the attached statement for your perusal and endorsement. To endorse, kindly send your name, organization (if affiliated to an organization) and country to Maria-Goretti Ane. If you are endorsing in your personal capacity, please simply state ‘Independent’.

As a network, our goal is to ensure that drug policies are developed and implemented in a manner that promotes the rights, and dignity of drug users. This must therefore support them to be able to overcome the situation. We seek to ensure that laws enacted do not condemn victims of drug use.

Our foremost priority is to ensure that the draft bill by the Narcotics Commission is one that supports drug users rather than punish them. The current bill provides clauses that will rather enforce harsh sanctions on drug users. A situation we do not want to happen.

Network members have taken a thorough analysis of the bill and highlighted some critical areas that require immediate revision.

With your support, we want to push for these revisions to be made before the bill is passed into law.

We therefore call on you to read through the attached statement and endorse it on or before March 20, 2015 by 4pm GMT.

We kindly request that you should share this widely across your staff, colleagues, family members and friends to ensure that we have many signatories and more support in this process.

Monday, March 9, 2015

EPISODE #34Research & Co-ordination: E.K.Bensah JrExecutive Producer: E.K.Bensah Jr"Dear friends,We used the thirty-fourth edition of the Africa in Focus show to discuss the newly-formed communications Network on Women, Peace & Security and UNSCR 1325, which stresses the participation of women in peace & security.We spoke to Head of Women, Peace & Security Institute, Margaret Alexander-Reheboth, who stressed that the role the Media can play is by daily, and regularly, telling positive stories about women.On Catherine Appiah-Pinkrah's part, she spoke as a representative of the Ministry of Defence, which remains one of the implementers of the UNSCR1325. She equally-stressed the role of the media, and talked of how discussions on 1325 was an opportunity to also tell the world the stories of Ghana's revered Peace & Security Architecture -- as exemplified by structures such as the National Peace Council.The Network is here to stay, and the advocacy is on...to ensure that those Communicators that make up the steering committee, including Radio XYZ, keep stories around 1325 alive!Kindly find a link to download the podcast below:

Welcome to the 7th edition of the Ecowas@40Podcast,
where we give you insights into all that is ECOWAS.

The ECOWAS@40Podcast is divided into four parts.
We start off with an overview of what stories are trending under ECOWAS/West
Africa/the AU. We then move on to what ECOWAS and/or AU accounts are tweeting.
Third, we give listeners an ECOWAS Fact; and, finally, “What’s my ECOWAS Beef?”
where I offer candid views on a trending topic. In today’s edition, we are
looking at events the Show is involved in one may have missed.

No matter how hard we try, it is difficult to
exclude AU news from an #ECOWAS@40Podcast. The two are inextricably linked. No
surprise why AU, therefore, dominates intro this week. Last week, we touched on
the nettlesome issues around #SouthSudan. This week, another AU migraine:
intelligence documents leaked to some media houses reveal spies in Addis being
alerted to a plot by “an unnamed state” to kill a top AU diplomat, which we now
know to be the AUC Chair – back in 2012, and days after being appointed.

2.37RTs -- @Refugees: “Thanks to @rokiatraore for
supporting #Ibelong campaign to end statelessness”

.WHAT ECOWAS IS TWEETING:

Ecowas account on twitter has 39
followers; it is not following anyone yet. It has tweeted 17 times since its
first tweet on 10 February. The month of February was its busiest, with the
last tweet being 3 days ago. This can only be considered encouraging news. We
encourage it to get more active beyond tweeting website URLs!

3.ECOWAS
FACT

Towards the implementation of the
Decisions taken by Authority at its 42nd Ordinary Session in
Yamoussoukro on 27-28 February 2013 with regard to the adoption of a 15-member
Commission, the Summit decided to allocate statutory positions in accordance
with new structure of the Commission.

This means:

1.There have been 15 Commissioners since
2013, representing each of the ECOWAS Member State.

2.The ECOWAS Commission President is from
Burkina Faso; Vice-President Mackintosh Liberia. Can anyone guess which
Commissioner position Ghana occupies? Stephen Nartey is ECOWAS Commissioner for
General Administration and Conferences. This basically means he is in charge of
that portfolio, pretty much like a Minister is to a West African civil service.

The importance of following what our
Commissioners are up to is to ensure we hold them accountable for the portfolio
they supervise. If we can hold our Ghanaian Ministers accountable, must we not
begin to hold Stephen Nartey accountable for the work he is doing at ECOWAS in
your name? At the end of the day, you and I pay for ECOWAS (something we will be
discussing in next week’s show) through article 72 of the ECOWAS Treaty, which
instituted the ECOWAS Community Levy. We will be telling you more about that
next week. Stay tuned till then!

Talking
Points around ECOWAS@40 (2): Who should be the beneficiaries of ECOWAS
integration?

In the second part of
our “Talking Points around ECOWAS@40”, we want to use the 35th
edition of “Africa in Focus” to examine who the beneficiaries of ECOWAS ought
to be.

The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs & Regional Integration has finally launched the “ECOWAS@40”
celebrations in what some of us believe to be a rather lukewarm manner. ECOWAS
integration, in AIF’s view, is too important a milestone in the sub-region’s
narrative of development for it to deserve such little attention, especially at
a time when President Mahama is ECOWAS Chair.

For an administration
that has aligned itself with the youth, it beggars belief that in all the
ECOWAS meetings, the youth have yet to be invited to sit as observers at any of
the ECOWAS meetings that have been held in Ghana. One can only hope that in the
spirit of the 2009-call by East African youth to have a seat at the East
African Community Parliament (EALA), West African youth will follow same and
get active on a similar call. It is for this reason we will speak to the Public
& Media Relations Officer of the Ghana Youth Integrity Initiative to speak
to us what ECOWAS can do better—specifically under Mahama’s tenure as ECOWAS
Chair and—generally as a well-respected regional economic community with
experience in peace and security to transcend that imperative and ensure ECOWAS
properly-benefits future generations.

Also on the line will be
George Ofori, President of GUTA, who is well-known for what some may call
altercations between GUTA and its Nigerian counterpart in the Ashanti capital
Kumasi. Although ECOWAS protocols mean that Nigerians are able to work in
Ghana, and therefore his attempts to get Nigerian traders to leave the retail
sector were illegal under the ECOWAS treaty, the revision of the GIPC law in July
2013 (revising minimum capital of foreigners wishing to do business in Ghana
from US$300,000 to US$1m either in cash or goods) means that Ghanaians are
protected from an influx of foreigners in the retail sector – including ECOWAS
Community Citizens.

Finally, we will speak
to Appiah Adoamoko to offer us key insights into consumer-led West African
integration, and why ECOWAS citizens need to start making greater demands as
consumers of an emerging West African Common Market.

Join us if
you can at 1pm on 10 March, 2015.

Guiding questions

Is there anything to benefit at all from West African integration
under ECOWAS?

Is there sufficient attention paid to West African consumers?

Given that the youth represent 60 percent of the continent’s
demographic, what does ECOWAS need to do to better-integrate youth views in
the way East African Community does with Youth observers?

How do we reconcile protecting ECOWAS Community Citizens from
influx of foreigners with ECOWAS free movement protocols when our national
investment laws make no distinction between ECOWAS Community Citizens and “foreigners”?